By James Ndubuisi Nwakpa
The vulnerable and less privileged indigenes of Ebonyi State who engage in street hawking and other menial jobs both within the state and across other major cities of Nigeria are beginning to aim higher, following the ongoing arrangements by Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru’s led government to change the ugly narratives of Ebonyians who had hitherto been neglected and relegated to the background in the midst of other Nigerian citizens.
While briefing the press in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State Capital, the Honourable Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Engr. Chikadibia Jude Okpor noted that the State Executive Council (EXCO) members chaired by Governor Nwifuru during their meeting of 23rd August 2023, approved an empowerment package of two million naira each for one thousand five hundred people who will be trained in various skills.
The commissioner revealed that the empowerment programme which would cost the state government over three billion naira has been planned to be executed in three phases with five hundred people in each phase who will be provided with the financial assistance to start up something meaningful after the vocational training exercise.
Engr. Jude Okpor explained that as part of the state government’s efforts to achieve this laudable initiative, the EXCO has approved the sum of two billion naira as a kick off capital for the implementation of the first phase of the exercise which is meant to commence as soon as possible.
The commissioner also said that as part of the plans to uplift the living standard of the people in the state through the human capital development initiative of Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, the EXCO also approved the payment of arrears of gratuity to retired civil servants from 1996 to 2021 with the cost implementation of over four billion naira.
It was also noted that the Chairman of the State Executive Council, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru who announced the release of the sum of two billion naira and three thousand bags of rice to Ebonyi State government as palliatives by the federal government also constituted a ten man committee to handle the distribution of the palliatives and also went further to constitute another two committees to take care of the empowerment scheme and the payment of gratuity to retired civil servants from 1996 to 2021 respectively.
